Holocaust Tweets as an Act of Resistance

in Israel Studies Review
Author: Lia Friesem 1
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  • 1 The Open University of Israel lfriesem@gmail.com
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/isr.2018.330206
Keywords:
collective memory; hegemonic discourse; Holocaust memory; oppositional decoding; social media; Stuart Hall; Twitter, Web 2.0
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Abstract

More than other collective memories, the Holocaust is the most vivid memory in today’s Israeli existence. As a result of comprehensive official and unofficial memory work that utilizes the Holocaust as a political and educational tool, on the one hand, and due to the advent of the new media, on the other, its grip on everyday Israeli reality is only growing stronger. As part of a broader research project focusing on resistive cultural activity on Israeli Twitter, this article makes visible the striking omnipresence of the Holocaust on this social network, while maintaining that many of the ‘Holocaust tweets’ constitute an act of resistance. That is, users are engaged in oppositional decoding in a battle against the hegemonic Holocaust discourse.

Contributor Notes

LIA FRIESEM is a graduate student in Cultural Studies at The Open University of Israel. Her research interests include contemporary Israeli society and culture with a special focus on popular and social media. Currently, she is writing her thesis on the Israeli Twitter landscape. For over a decade, she has been a journalist for Yedioth Ahronoth. E-mail: lfriesem@gmail.com

Israel Studies Review

Cover Israel Studies Review
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
85–104
Keywords:
collective memory; hegemonic discourse; Holocaust memory; oppositional decoding; social media; Stuart Hall; Twitter, Web 2.0
Print Publication Date:
01 Sep 2018
Online Publication Date:
01 Sep 2018
Copyright:
© Association for Israel Studies 2018

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